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Speckulation Entertainment will produce a brand new series of acoustic sessions with three of its roster of recording artists at the recently refurbished Pheasantry on the Kings Road in Chelsea during June. West End star and Avenue Q favourite Julie Atherton will kickstart proceedings on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th June, followed by How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? finalist Helena Blackman on Sunday 12th June, and award-winning composer Michael Bruce on Sunday 19th June.

JULIE ATHERTON (Sat 4th & Sun 5th June)
West End star Julie Atherton creates a completely unplugged re-working of her acclaimed album No Space for Air to celebrate the first anniversary of its release. Best known for creating the roles of Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut in Avenue Q, and her role as Cathy in Jason Robert Brown’s The Last 5 Years, Julie is also the star of the international YouTube sensation, ‘Portrait of a Princess’.

“Musical theatre is in safe hands when promoted as brilliantly as this.” – Mark Shenton

HELENA BLACKMAN (Sun 12th June)
Best known as runner-up in the BBC’s How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, Helena Blackman returns to the Pheasantry, following her sold out dates last year, to perform her debut album The Sound of Rodgers & Hammerstein in a stripped-back acoustic evening celebrating her association with this legendary musical theatre writing duo, including one or two surprises.

“She gives a sparklingly assured performance.” – The Guardian

MICHAEL BRUCE(Sun 19th June)
Award-winning musical theatre composer Michael Bruce brings his No.1 debut album Unwritten Songs to the Pheasantry in an acoustic re-imagining of this celebrated collection of songs. Michael will be joined by a selection of the West End stars that appear on the album, along with some unexpected guests, with whom he will also showcase a number of previously unperformed songs.

“Faith in this exceptional talent was fully justified” – The Stage

Relaunched in 2010, The Pheasantry is a beguiling venue on the Kings Road in the heart of Chelsea, which is fast becoming established as the new London home of contemporary cabaret and intimate concert performances. Since its relaunch, The Pheasantry has played host to the highest echelon of cabaret performers, as well as stars from the West End, Broadway and beyond.

The Speckulation Acoustic Sessions are produced by Neil Eckersley & Paul Spicer for Speckulation Entertainment in association with Samuel Joseph.

For more information about each of the artists’ albums, visit the following sites:

Helena Blackman is a British musical theatre actress best known for being the runner-up in the BBC1 Reality TV programme How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, West End star Helena Blackman releases her debut solo album The Sound of Rodgers & Hammerstein, celebrating her ongoing association with this legendary musical theatre writing duo, on 14th February 2011, to coincide with Valentine’s Day.

Helena Blackman: The Sound of Rodgers & Hammerstein will feature Helena’s personal selection of much loved Rodgers and Hammerstein classics such as ‘I Enjoy Being a Girl’ and ‘I Have Confidence’, as well as lesser known gems like ‘The Gentleman is a Dope’. Helena is joined in two exclusive duets by the number one classical charting singer Jonathan Ansell and her fellow West End star Daniel Boys.

Having captured the nation’s attention and the unfailing support of Andrew Lloyd Webber on How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, Helena subsequently headlined the acclaimed UK tour of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific, and starred in the West End première of Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night. Her many other theatre credits include Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and the title role in Gypsy.

The composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II wrote some of the world’s most popular musicals together, including The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Carousel, Oklahoma! and The King and I. Their work has enjoyed an enduring longevity, and is regularly performed and recorded across the globe.

Helena Blackman:The Sound of Rodgers & Hammerstein is produced by Neil Eckersley & Paul Spicer for Speckulation Entertainment, musically produced and supervised by Mike Dixon, with musical direction by David Randall and orchestrations by Michael Bruce.

Recorded at Angel Studios in December 2010, the recording is released by Speckulation Entertainment.